Luxe Yorkville Building Slapped for Burying Sidewalk Under Trash

By DNAinfo Staff on January 29, 2013 7:47am

YORKVILLE — A luxury Upper East Side high-rise is causing a stink with neighbors by sloppily dumping its garbage on the street — and fed-up locals are now demanding that the apartment building clean up its act.

At a recent Community Board 8 Environment and Sanitation Committee meeting, area resident John Hart said The Clermont — at 444 E. 82nd St. — has long put its garbage bags on the sidewalk in a messy manner.

Hart also insisted the Clermont — which leaves its refuse on York Avenue, near East 81st Street — routinely blocks the walkway.

"It's an eyesore," said Hart, who lives across the street. "It's an outrage."

According to the Department of Housing Preservation & Development, the Clermont has been hit with three violations in the past for improperly storing garbage in the courtyard. It's not immediately clear how many violations or citations the Clermont has received from the Department of Sanitation, which polices the handling of garbage on public property.

Iggy Terranova, a Department of Sanitation community liaison who was present at the meeting, agreed, saying the stacks of sloppily-stacked garbage bags are "pretty much taking up the entire sidewalk."

Terranova said the Sanitation Department would train the development to efficiently stack garbage.

"We will sit with the Clermont and help them do it right," Terranova said, "Then, it's up to them to do what they got to do. If they chose not to, then it's enforcement time."

Abraham Rill, a Clermont manager attending the meeting, denied that his 416-unit building's garbage was any worse than that of its neighbors.

"Garbage is not a sightly experience," Rill said. "Where do you want us to put it?"

But he acknowledged that the building produced a lot of trash, and suggested that the Department of Sanitation increase its rates of pickup. In addition, he suggested, the Department of Sanitation should send its staff directly into the Clermont's courtyard — where garbage is kept in a shed between pick up days — and help carry bags to trucks.

"That's never going to happen," said Terranova. "We will never go onto your property. We will never pick up extra. Please don't ask. It's not happening."

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